Feature Articles

Get Innovative With 3M

3M's Pico Projector series Renewed

When 3M first rolled out the 3M MPro110 pico projector (reviewed here) back in 2008, it was nothing short of the word, "revolutionary". While it still required to be connected to a compatible device to fetch your content for projection, it was a sufficient progression; projectors that were once bulky and heavy were reduced to pocket-sized devices that could be easily brought around without much hassle. In 2009, they added another accolade to their belt with the MPro 120, one that sported vast improvements, most prominently in image quality as it ran on the MM200 engine which used an advanced LCOS electronic imager, and an increased battery life. Fast forward just a year later to 2010, 3M has thankfully followed up with another Pico Projector, the MPro150, a self-contained pico projector that has upped the ante: it can double up as a personal music player, a flash drive or a tool for creating your own mini-theater experience - all so with increased portability, as it cancels out the necessity of bringing a pass-through device, but more on the technicalities shortly.

The MPro150, third in the series, comes in with several interesting improvements over its immediate predecessor, the MPro120. Compared to the later, the new comer has 1GB of internal memory, a micro SD card slot, headphone jack, USB input, and boasts a higher brightness level of 15 lumens as opposed to 12 lumens of the MPro120. Of course, the main selling point here is that the pocket projector no longer requires to be connected to a compatible device for presentations - necessary documents can be easily plonked into the device for storage prior and be projected from the device itself. It supports a pretty wide range of mainstream formats such as .doc, .ppt, .xls, .txt, .pdf, .bmp, .jpg, .mp4, .mp3, .amr, .aac and H.264. For those who are wondering, the MPro150 relies on the Piscel Fileviewer to open and view Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF files. Most of all, those who are owners of Apple products can rejoice as there's an optional adapter cable for users to share or consume their content on a comparatively bigger platform. The Price? S$727.

Of course, 3M also had more than one innovative product up their sleeves and we have them lined up for you below.

Touching the M2256PW Multi-Touch Display

The M2256PW Display is a breakthrough technological product in this day and age where multi-touch interactivity is still limited to 2- to 4- finger touch input. A 22-inch HD LCD screen with capacitive touchscreen capabilities, it allows for more than 10-finger touch input as well as supports advanced gesture capability. The display can also be tilted 90-degrees, allowing for greater interactivity in terms of group computer gaming, education, and training. The M2256PW is not yet available in Singapore and will be launched in Q2 this year, but suggested retail price lies at US$1,499.

Go with 'Gold' For Protection of Privacy

Gold is in, but a gold privacy filter is largely unheard of - but the 3M Gold Laptop Privacy Filter shows a reflective golden screen when viewed from the side. Having listened to their customers' complaints about previous 3M filters being too dark and obscuring visibility, the new gold privacy screen has a glossy surface that improves the viewing of text and images without having users resort to turning up their laptop's brightness level to the maximum. Available at major IT retailers and distributors from June this year, the filters are priced from S$47 to S$142.